The idea of people picking their baby’s gender scares the fuck out of me. Soon there will be a generation of “designer babies”. Hair color, skin color, eye color, height, weight, gender, etc…all picked by the parents. Ummm, no thanks.

I think it’s great that medical science is advancing like this. I’ll also be one hundred percent honest and say that the chance of the wrong gender (for me, a boy) is a major reason that I don’t want to get pregnant. (I also don’t really want kids in general, think pregnancy is repulsive, and I love my free time, money and my body) But I really do NOT want to go through 9 months of hell to end up with a boy. I just do not picture myself with a son, like at all. I know myself well enough to know how disappointed I’d be. So for me, I will not be having kids – but if I somehow got past all the other reasons and decided to do it, I’d use this. Or adopt.

I think it’s dumb. I think in a lot of cultures, even still, male’s are the prefered gender. (I could be wrong). If the majority of people in the world had this mindset and everyone chose their baby to be a boy, how the heck would the human race survive? There’s a reason why there’s a 50/50 chance of having a boy or a girl. We need both genders around!

I think in general, the only appropriate use for this technology is to avoid genetic diseases that pass only to one gender or the other (I can’t remember any right now, but there are a couple.)

I’ve also heard the position that it’s only acceptable for family balancing purposes (I believe many physicians hold this view.) So if you already have two boys, you could use it to have a girl, but you can’t use it to select the gender of your first child.

This is only possible if you’re using IVF. It’s been done for couples that are carriers of X-linked genetic conditions for decades (disorders that only affect boys, like hemophilia). Here in the States, each physician/practice can determine their own practice, but often it’s a matter of preference not a hard line. For instance. A couple does IVF and ends up with 5 good embryos available for implantation. Lets say 3 are female and 2 are male. Most IVF centers will only implant up to 3 embryos at a time anyway, so some will let the parents choose to prioritize those of a certain gender. That’s not to say that if the pregnancy doesn’t take, the couple wouldn’t consider the other embryos even though they aren’t the prefered gender. And yes, this is generally done more for family balancing than for first births. While I, personally, wouldn’t do this, I don’t think it’s as evil as designer babies.

I personally wouldn’t do it, I would love to have either sex. My parents desperately wanted a boy, and got me. They were SO crazy about having a daughter, they were desperately hoping for another girl, and got my brother. I think people just can’t imagine having one sex for some reason, but they are crazy about them anyhow when they are born!